Pokemon: Crimson and Azure

Chapter 7: Cerulean City

In This Chapter:

~Cerulean City Arrival-Cerulean Gym~

~ Cerulean City Arrival~

A city surrounded by a mystical blue aura…

It was nearing 10 PM when Crimson finally found herself at the gates of Cerulean City. The lights from all of the buildings were a beautiful sight even up close. But there was no time to admire the beauty of the town. Tomorrow was a big day for our hero, as it would be her second gym battle. Crimson quickly made her way to the Pokemon Center, which was thankfully still open. She quickly healed all of her pokemon, rented a room and went upstairs. She was really expecting to find her rival, Azure, in the same Pokemon Center, since they were both heading in the same direction, but to her surprise, Azure was nowhere to be found. At least in the hallways and main lobby. Maybe she was already sleeping? Today was a tiring day for the both of them. Crimson eventually found her room, quickly ate her dinner: The last sandwich she was carrying, and instantly went to bed.
The next morning came, Crimson got up at 7 as usual, quickly took a shower and dressed up, ate the free breakfast the Pokemon Center had to offer, and instantly set out. She knew whoever the gym leader was would be tough to beat, and she didn't want the same thing to happen again back at the Pewter Gym, so she had already planned out her schedule. First, she took a quick visit in the local Poke-mart, stocking up on Pokeballs, medicine and food. Afterwards, she went to the seaside route leading back to Mt. Moon for some training. After a good 5 hours of hard work, all of her Pokemon were even at level 20. Some had also learned new moves, like her Pikachu, which learned Thunderbolt and quick attack already. Unfortunately, she didn't encounter any new Pokemon during her training, but that was unimportant as of now. She went back to the town, healed her Pokemon real quick and headed straight for the gym… only to find they were having a lunch break.
"Darn! Oh well.. mind as well check out the town a bit more." She said to herself and began to walk around town. There wasn't much to this city: No trainer schools, no museums. Nothing. However, something did catch our hero's eye. There were three policemen talking to each other in front of a certain house. She approached them in curiosity and asked what was going on.
"There has been a robbery here. Clearly, Team Rocket is behind this most hideous crime!" Said police officer #1.
"Team Rocket? I saw them trying to steal fossils back in Mt. Moon yesterday."
"You did? They might have left clues. We better check it out." Said police officer #2
"Good idea, Jeff. Carl, you stay here and guard the house while we're gone. And kid." The third police officer looked at Crimson. "Thanks, you sure helped us today by telling us about Team Rocket's latest plans. But try to stay clear from them next time, they're dangerous criminals!"
Crimson just nodded, remembering all the stress that one grunt has caused her the other day.
The two police officers left towards Mt. Moon, and the third stayed to guard the house. Crimson tried to squeeze a bit more out of him, but all he could tell her was how dangerous Team Rocket were. Not even the police force knew much about them.
She finally gave up, and walked around town a bit more, passing by a silly trainer trying to tell her Slowbro to use Sonicboom. Some people…
Crimson also checked out the bike shop. There were a few bikes on display for the public. Usually, Crimson wasn't much into bikes, but these particular ones looked quite good. The price wasn't though, as it was 1,000,000 Pokedollars! Who on earth even had so much money?
After that little dilemma, our hero went outside again and made her way back to the gym. On the way back, she was stopped by another old man, supposedly a once great trainer, similarly to the old man back at Viridian City. He told her more about the badges she was after. Each particular badge had it's unique abilities when registered in the ID of the trainer. Some badges allowed a trainer's pokemon to see just how skilled their trainer was, while others allowed pokemon to learn special HM moves that were unavailable by default. It was useful info, none the less, but it still felt like a waste of time, since the old man kept her busy for a good 40 minutes or so. When she finally managed to escape after he randomly fell asleep, she made her way towards the Cerulean Gym.

~Cerulean Gym~

Leader: Misty, the tomboyish mermaid!

The interior of the gym was much different of Pewter Gym's. Basically the entire arena was a large pool, with platforms for non-water types. Clearly, this was a water-type themed gym.
To her surprise, Crimson found the same nerd from the Pewter Gym. When she asked him how on earth he got there, all he said was "I have my ways."
What an odd fella, she thought.. All he said this time was that she was better off using electric type Pokemon or grass type Pokemon in this gym. Thankfully, Crimson had her Pikachu, so beating the two regular gym trainers before she could face misty was a breeze. After using a quick potion on her Pikachu, Crimson found herself facing the gym leader: Misty.
"Welcome to the Cerulean Gym. I am the leader, Misty. I specialize in water type Pokemon. What's your approach when battling Pokemon? Mine is all-out aggressive with water types!" Misty shouted from the other side of the battlefield
"All of us have our unique ways, I guess." Was all Crimson said, before sending out her Pikachu on one of the platforms.
Misty sent out her first Pokemon: A Staryu.
The judge was, like in the Pewter Gym, the second best trainer after the gym leader.
"This Pokemon battle is between the challenger, Crimson, and the gym leader, Misty. It will be a full 2 on 2 battle with no time limit. Only the challenger is allowed to make substitutions. You may now begin!"
"Staryu, dive underwater!"
Misty's staryu dived underwater in one quick swoop, before Crimson's Pikachu could even aim an attack.
"This is already looking bad… Pikachu, remember our previous battle! Focus and try to sense any movement underwat-"
Before Crimson could even finish her sentence, Mistys Staryu jumped out of the water behind Pikachu and landed a direct hit with a tackle attack.
"Shute … that won't work, she's too fast for our old strategy… I must think of something else … and fast." Crimson thought to herself, in the meantime, Misty's Staryu dived underwater again.
"Okay, Pikachu, quickly jump from platform to platform!"
"Pika!" Crimson's Pikachu began doing as she said, making large and speedy leaps from platform to platform.
"Not bad … but don't forget, my Pokemon are specially trained."
As soon as Misty said that, her Staryu jumped out in front of Pikachu's current platform.
"Quick, Staryu, use water gun!"
"Pikachu, use thunderbolt, now!"
Both sides shot out their attacks, however Pikachu had the advantage as the electricity easily travelled through the water gun and hit the target with ease, knocking it down in one hit. Pikachu managed to dodge the water gun attack by jumping to a different platform by instinct.
"Staryu is unable to battle, the round goes to the challenger, Crimson!" The judge announced.
"Hah! My Pokemon are specially trained too, you know!"
Misty just chuckled to herself, returning her Staryu to it's pokeball. "Not bad … but can you beat my Starmie?"
Misty's next Pokemon was a Starmie, the evolved version of Staryu, which was bound to be more powerful…
"Round 2, begin!"
"Starmie, use Water Pulse!"
Misty's Starmie launched a powerful attack that Crimson hadn't witnessed yet. It was so powerful and fast, it managed to land a direct hit on Crimson's poor Pikachu before it could even make an attempt at escape. Pikachu was knocked into the water. It wasn't the best swimmer in the world, but at least it could stay in one place, without sinking like a rock.
"Starmie, dive underwater and prepare for a tackle attack!"
Misty's Starmie did the same thing her Staryu did, diving underwater as it could come out from anywhere.
"Pikachu, keep an eye out for Starmie!" Crimson said, focusing and readying her mind to see where Starmie would pop up from. Eventually, Starmie popped out from Pikachu's behind, launching a tackle attack.
"Pikachu, behind you!"
Crimson's Pikachu instantly turned around and dodged Starmie's attack with ease.
"Now quick, use thunderbolt!"
"Pika!" Pikachu launched a thunderbolt straight at Starmie, knocking it out in one hit with ease due to it still being in the water.
"Starmie is unable to battle, the victory goes to Crimson and her Pikachu!"
Crimson was excited. This was her best win yet, she didn't loose any pokemon throughout the battle, probably because she had the upper hand thanks to Pikachu. Her Pikachu swam over to Crimson's side. Crimson pulled it out of the water and pat it on the hand. Hugging it would wet her clothes, which she didn't want. Thankfully, she raised Pikachu to be very polite, so it didn't jump straight into her arms. She then retrieved it to it's Pokeball and made her way over to Misty.
"Congratulations! You earned yourself the Cascade badge! Pokemon to level 30 will now obey you! Also, take this:" Misty handed Crimson the badge, then another disk. It was a TM, like the one Crimson received from Brock, only this one was of a different move.
"This is my favorite TM," Misty said "It contains Water Pulse, a strong water type move! Teach to a water type Pokemon, assuming you have one yet."
"Thank you very much." Crimson bowed politely, withdrawing the disk to her TM/HM pocket of her bag. "I'll keep it in mind when I catch a water type Pokemon."
Of course, Crimson lied, she did have a water type. Her Magicarp, which was the only Pokemon that was still on level 5 and couldn't learn any TM moves.
"Take care now! And good luck on your journey!"
"Thank you!" Crimson bowed once more and made her way out of the gym. On the way out, the nerd stopped her to congratulate her.
With that, Crimson left the gym with a new badge and TM!
She quickly stopped by the Pokemon Center to heal her Pokemon and check the time: 2:30 PM. Since there was still time, Crimson decided to check out the furthest area of town: The Cape. Once her Pokemon were all fully healed, she made her way outside the Center, and took on the road to the Cape.

Next time: Azure's visit in Cerulean Cape